Improvement in construction of piles for wharves



,cnAUscEY WAL'roN, or WASHINGTON, Dlsrnlc'r or COLUMBIA.

1N CONSTRUCTION-'0F PILESFOR- wH-Aewss, ac'.

'f Speciiication forming part of Letters Patent- No. 43,357, dated June 28,:1864.

To all-whom it may concern: *Be it known that, I, CHAUNCEY WALTON, ofthe city `of Washington and District of 'Columbia, have =invented a new and useful lmprovement in Piles for Docks, VVharves, and Foundations; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which-A a `Figure 1 is a view in elevation of my im- -proved pile. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section of the middle portion of thesame, and Fig.g3 is a longitudinal section of a pile cornposed of A three pieces of-short timber. Fig. .4 is a section` of a `form. of ferrule for-a pile.

;-1t"is`thevobject of my inventionftofguard ,the .,wogdgngpileusedin. constructingdoclis and whrves'lrom the rapid decay to which it is, as now used, lialgfat the water-line, and Vto' render' short timber equally as effective as longtimber for piles in foundations and other -uses, landvthus strengthen the structure deriving 'support from the pile, economizing ma. terial in its construction, and eeonornizin g `labor u putting the pile in place; and my invention consists in surrounding the pile with a metallic band orferrnle at the waterline, coating the fel-rule with a water-proof varnish to prevent corrosion, and makin g the pilein sections or pieces, anduniting these sections with screws and ferrules so as to connect the sections rigidly -as one continuous piece of any desired length, or admit the separation of them at points best adapted to the workproposed Fig. 1 intheaccompanying drawings repreisents a pile with ametal shoe, A; to enable `,it to bey forced .through'or into hard `strata fwithout fracture, and a metal ring, B, tojprevent'the head from being broken bythe ram.. A. part of *inyi'mprovement isshown in the ferrule orbandihwhich may be cast or other- ;wis'u made'water-tight of any suitable metal, 4-ironbeing the cheapest. The band or vfer- -rule 'mu'stbe so placed uponjthe pile as that While'itv is "situated nearly central over the joint of a pile, inad'c ot' two pieces, the botltom must bealways below the lowest tide and `-the top above the highest. When the' band is thus placedand the pile about to be driven,

the ferrule must be'! coated` -fwitha heavy caoutchouc varnish, or, what is possibly still better, a thick coat of bo" ed coaitar, umili/us coating will be an excellentapplication for the wooden portion of the pile to prevent it from absorbing moisture. Should there be any danger ofthe ferrule moving out 0f place from driving the pile, it may be riveted to either the'upper or lower portion of theple;

or the ferrule may be cast witn a diaphragm g across its center, asshown in Fig. 4, and the ferrule Amay be extended for bearings above the water-line.

Asit is one chief object ot"the ferrule to prevent as iar as possible all' hygrometric changes in the condition of the timber it surrounds, it is obvious that the ferrule C should be made to tit neatly both'attop and bottom on the pile, .and, gh1t,th4e@ed-tarcoatiMammalian@mammary Small points withcreviees that might exist atthese out such filling.

lt is obvious that the length ot'jthe ferrule must be greater than the rangeofthe tide at the locality where the pile is used,"sothat no precise dimensions can be given for all conditions; but these dimensions of the ferrule must vary as well for the localityasforthe size of timber used for the pile. waters of the Chesapeake Bay, for example, as at Baltimore and elsewhere,:.,the mean variation .in the tide is about vnine inches, or the highest tide is about seventeeninches,

while the lowest is nine, and, of course, inl such situations a ferrule of two'feet would be long enough, while at New York a much longer ferrule would be necessary.

To make thepile of short pieces oftimbef 'I use-,in addition tothe ferrule, a st-reng'thelh ing` screw-bolt, D, asseen' in Fig. '2. The

pieces from .which it is proposed'to makethfe `pile being. reduced to a uniform 5 diameterk at two ends, these are sawedtruly at right- .anglesjto their axes, wheone-end is centrally bored and the .screw-bolt D fastened therein by a pin, a, or otherwise. The ferrule is .then'sccurely itted -on the piet-.enthat' sustains the screw, and, the lother c'nd of the pile hav-ing been previously centrally bored with the proper diameter of hole to let-the threaded portion of the screw-bolt fit tightly and cut'a thread therein, is' screwed down upon the screw and within the ferruleujniill In 'the upper I the ends of the two pieces meet, when the pile is to be banded at top, and, if necessary, shod v at bottom, and is as good for using entire in l docks vand Wharves :ts if made-of zt single stick that would have been far more expensi-ve :md much more laborious to handle. i When the sh'ortpiles are wanted for foun- \da, tions beneath the water, the advantages lof my jointed pile are Ivery marked, for, as shown in Fig.`3, it can be made in sections of `any number'or length desiredpts l 2 3, for example. For this. purpose it is onlyneeessary to vvattach ascrew, or screw and band, to the sections l and 2, as at b b, when section 3, having ybeen, driven to the depth beneath the -weter desired, can be detached by' unscrewing and removing sections l and 2, and thus lthe piling'A can be effected .to 'any extent und at any depth` without destroying long timber or sawing at single stick under water.

flint I claim :ts my invention, and desire to secureV by Letters Patent, is-

1. Surrounding; the wooden pile-with a meta-llc ferruie at the weterline to preserve the woodV by keeping it in a uniform hygroi metric condition.

2.' Making the pile of two or more short piecesof timber, s'ubstantiailyin the manner andl for thep'nrpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto sul,

scribed my name. GHAUNCEY WALTON.

lVitnesses:

Jos. SNOWDEN BELL, EDM. F. BROWN. 

